By Makeida Antonio
For the past few days, a fire has been trying to rage at Cook’s Landfill but the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) has been working overtime to contain the blaze.
General Manager of NSWMA Daryl Spencer indicated that workers have been working assiduously to keep the fire under control despite the inclement weather which has contributed to the spontaneous combustion.
“Over the last few days, we’ve had some issues covering our waste because of the weather and we’ve also had some equipment issues and early Monday morning in the wee hours we also had a spontaneous combustion. That means that a fire ignited without any point source. Since then, we were greeted with it when we came in at 6 Monday morning and we’ve been attempting since yesterday to arrest the problem,” told Observer yesterday at the Cook’s Dump site.
Spencer explained that on Monday morning nearby residents began complaining of being affected by the smoke. However, other areas such as Five Islands and Galley Bay remained mostly unaffected due to the direction of the wind.
“Because of the wind speed — it has been very windy recently — the fire has been getting a lot of oxygen and we do know that oxygen is a premier component for fire to burn. The direction of the wind over the last two days have taken [the smoke] to sea. We have residents in Five Islands and Galley Bay who are affected and when the wind shifts south and west it affects the residents in the development,” he said.
The NSWMA manager is assuring residents that the authority is working feverishly and has commissioned additional equipment in order to contain the blaze.
“It is at a rather difficult location and we are also attempting to carry out our daily collection and disposal. We have had to increase our equipment resources by threefold. We have had to address the private sector to try to get additional equipment so that we can cover the burning area thereby stifling the fire,” according to Spencer.